I read that most people go with the first real estate agent they hear from; but I'm here to tell…read moreyou that going with the BEST will be one of the best decisions you've ever made. Do yourself a favor and contact Kate Shields, and it will be one of the best decisions you ever make.
Being able to trust Kate to effectively coordinate between selling agents, sellers, eventually lawyers and loan companies, and our own crazy schedule took off so much time, effort and stress out of the situation. She made it possible for us.
Sorry, long review ahead!
When my wife and I started looking for our first house, honestly I was a bit overwhelmed and wasn't sure where to start. I had heard that going with a real estate agent could be helpful, so I began looking for an agent. We narrowed down a short-list based on good reviews, and ended up getting a personal recommendation from someone on one person on that list too, so we went with her - Kate.
From the very first time we spoke with her, Kate was not only obviously accommodating and savvy, but had such a magnetic and bubbly personality that it already made things smoother. She explained her typical process with turn-around times, grading systems on viewings we saw, and what to expect with the home-buying process from-beginning-to-end. Having someone walk my wife and me through all these nuances in such a transparent and sophisticated way showed me we made the right choice with Kate.
I should mention, I work in project management and implement multi-tiered technical-projects that can span up to a year-long. So with my background, I was also able to immediately recognize that Kate was doing what the best people in my job do - juggling a great deal of moving-pieces, while simultaneously making sure to keep everyone informed and encouraged to meet our goals. Before every meeting we had, Kate would have an itinerary of showings, and already have the logistics planned out after shooting over places we would like; every time, Kate reinforced her ability to maintain organization and drive-forward while making sure to keep our interests in mind.
She was on-it and continued to line up houses for us to see whenever we could. Then with any house, Kate would point out aspects of homes that we should look out for (like foundational cracks, water damage, or other longer-term defects), as well as aspects that added a lot of value to the home too.
Even when doing this, I never got the feeling that I was being pushed in any direction, and never felt like she was trying to just go for a quick payday - rather, it was the exact opposite: every effort was always aimed at making sure everything was 100% what we wanted and that we were fully comfortable. She is so good that she got in tune with what we were looking for, and oftentimes we wouldn't need to say much and she would already know what we were leaning-toward with a home.
We had considered a lot of houses, but since the market was absolutely insane, we weren't able to find the right one very quickly. However, once we did find the house we 100% knew we wanted, I could immediately see a shift in Kate and she turned on the 'negotiation mode', and she certainly did negotiate. I won't get into the numbers, but she saved us a whole lot of time and money with her negotiations. We just gave her our overall numbers and sat back to watch the show, and ended up saving a lot of money.
Our offer was accepted, but her help didn't stop there. Kate even helped us through the legal process as well. We all went to the lawyers' office to sign the closing docs; when we were there, the real estate lawyers themselves said they hadn't ever seen a real estate agent that was so knowledgeable in real estate laws.
She's helped us literally every step of the way, and even attended our son's baby shower as one of our great friends. So even beyond her astounding professionalism and ability to organize & drive-forward in an accommodating way, she's now one of our great friends.
Again I say, do yourself a favor and go with Kate as your agent - it'll truly be one of the best decisions you ever make.